NBA Finals 2016: Warriors vs. Cavaliers Game 4 Odds, Prop Bets, Score Prediction
The Cleveland Cavaliers threw a major wrench in the plans of the Golden State Warriors after a shocking victory in Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals.
LeBron James and the Cavaliers came out angry Wednesday night and scored a 120-90 victory at home to bring the series to 2-1 and officially put to rest any ideas that bettors had about prop bets regarding a four-game sweep.
For shame, too, because the possible payout looked great after the Warriors blew the Cavaliers out of the water over the first two games of the series, despite Stephen Curry failing to score at least 20 points in either game.ย
Alas, there's nothing wrong with more intrigue and a broader range of options for bettors who are looking to take down the house. Here's everything to know about the betting environment ahead of Friday's Game 4.
2016 NBA Finals Game 4
When: Friday at 9 p.m. ET
Where: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland
TV: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Odds Breakdown
This looked like the easiest four-game play that bettors had seen in a long time.
Golden State stormed out to a 2-0 advantage despite enduring a grueling seven-game affair against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals. It beat Cleveland 104-89 and 110-77 in the first two games.
Even better, the Warriors had done so without Curry dominating and a small-ball lineup that sometimes ran as deep as nine players. Oh, and the Cavaliers looked primed to get forced into a small lineup of their own in Game 3 thanks to an injury to Kevin Love.
Then Game 3 happened and threw everything for a loop.
The Cavaliers put James at power forward and got 32 points from him. They got another 30 and 20 from Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith, respectively, in the 120-90 rout.
Las Vegas had the Cavaliers as minor favorites at home going into Game 3, but it's hard to imagine home court played such a major factor. The result has thrown some of the series prop odds into disarray. Stephen Campbell of Odds Shark provided the odds:
| Cleveland in Six | 16-1 |
| Cleveland in Seven | 8-1 |
| Golden State in Four | 11-4 |
| Golden State in Five | 7-4 |
| Golden State in Six | 9-2 |
| Golden State in Seven | 6-1 |
| Five | 23-10 |
| Six | 21-10 |
| Seven | 2-1 |
Now bettors have to decide in a hurry if the defending champions and a team praised as one of the best ever received a wake-up call and will close this series out in five games.
What's disconcerting is the fact the Warriors had to know the Game 3 assault was coming, as head coach Steve Kerr somewhat confirmed after the game, according to NBA.com's Fran Blinebury: "I didn't see it coming. We talked about it. We talked about how Cleveland was going to come out on their home floor, being down 2-0. We talked about all that stuff. I was very hopeful and I was expecting that our team would play much better. But we didn't, so I didn't have them ready."
It's hard to find fault with bettors who go ahead and pull the trigger on the bets centered on five games. The Warriors coming alive in response on the road Friday before ending the series at home isn't the craziest scenario imaginable.
As crazy as it sounds, there is something more difficult to bet on than the series outcome. Try the individual odds on for size:
| Stephen Curry | -125 |
| LeBron James | +200 |
| Klay Thompson | +500 |
| Draymond Green | +850 |
| Kyrie Irving | +900 |
| Kevin Love | +2000 |
| Andre Iguodala | +3000 |
| Stephen Curry | -125 |
| LeBron James | +250 |
| Klay Thompson | +400 |
| Kyrie Irving | +800 |
| Kevin Love | +3300 |
| Draymond Green | +5000 |
Some of these are easy enough to eliminate. There's zero chance Love scores the most points, not after missing Game 3 and having totaled 22 points.
Others are harder to dissect. How the MVP gets crowned will be interesting. James makes a solid choice if the Cavaliers win, but that's asking everyone to ignore his 11 total turnovers over the first two games. The award can't just go to the biggest name on the Warriors given the team-based effort. Last year was proof of that with Andre Iguodala winning the award.
As for picking the top scorer, well, good luck. It takes one of Curry or Klay Thompson to go on a two-game hot streak and steal the show. Draymond Green looked like an interesting line until he posted just six points in Game 3. Now the "interesting" label should go to Irving, who has 66 total points over three games.
Really, there's no wrong way for bettors to go with the individual lines, except for picking Love or Iguodala (30 total points). That's a good thing, depending on how a bettor chooses to look at it.
Prediction
It's hard to see the Warriors coming out so flat in Game 4 or the Cavaliers carrying the same intensity and energy into Friday on a short turnaround.ย
Las Vegas favors the Cavaliers by two points, which should strike bettors as funny given how gigantic the margin of victory has been in each game so far.
The smart play resides with Golden State. The winner of 73 regular-season games and the survivor of the Western Conference won't allow itself to get punched in the mouth again and not fire back, regardless of the venue. These Warriors, Curry included, have discovered the shooting stroke and improved as each series has progressed this postseason.
Look for this to be the case Friday, as the Warriors make adjustments and ride a hot hand from one of the Splash Brothers, if not both.
Prediction: Warriors 111, Cavaliers 106
All stats and info via ESPN.com unless otherwise specified. Odds via Odds Shark.
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